Katlyn (M/F/M red-hot menage shifter romance) Standalone (Shadow Creek Shifters Book 1)

by Madison Johns

  “Don’t be afraid, Katlyn. I won’t bite you unless you want me to,” Brendan said as he stood, facing her. When he smiled slyly, her eyes grew wide at the sight of fangs and a small cry escaped her lips.

  “Good going, Brendan. Can’t you control your inner beast better than that?” Chase snarled.

  “I can’t help it. This woman is bringing out my beast, but I’m still in control. It’s not like I’m going to shift now.”

  Katlyn stumbled to the bed, leaning against it as her breathing became erratic. “What are you?” She was overwhelmed with desire, but now she was truly frightened.

  “We’re mountain lion shifters,” Brendan explained. “I thought you knew this place was frequented by shifters.”

  Katlyn violently shook her head. “N-No, I really didn’t.”

  Chase smiled. “Don’t get scared off. I promise it’s not as bad as it sounds. It’s not like we’ll be shifted when we pleasure you. Some things come out like fangs, or more hair appearing on our arms, but that’s as far as it’ll go. We won’t bite you on purpose, but there are women who rather enjoy a little bite or scratch here or there.”

  When Brendan move closer, she shrieked, “Stay away from me.” Her mind reeled and her first instinct was to race from the room, but there was something about how Brendan’s eyes softened that drew her in.

  Brendan helped Katlyn stand. “I’m sorry if I scared you, but neither of us means you any harm. If you want to leave, we’ll understand, but your panties are really soaked,” he said as he ran a finger along where the dampness showed through the pink, satin panties Katlyn still wore.

  She gasped out loud and muffled a scream when he continued to rub along the slit of her folds outside the fabric. “Stop. I can’t think.” His fangs showing as his touch sending her body closer to the edge had her muddled with confusion. It wasn’t fair. How was she supposed to make a rational decision when her body ached for his touch?

  “This isn’t a thinking thing,” Brendan murmured near her ear.

  Chase joined them, kissing her, and she enjoyed the sensation of his kiss and Brendan’s fingers that worked under her panties now, seeking entrance into her throbbing pussy. When he thrust a finger inside, Katlyn broke the kiss and gasped, throwing her head back at the welcomed invasion. Her bra was unhooked and tossed aside and hands were now on each of her breasts as both men fondled and squeezed them, but when they slowly began to work on her sensitive nipples with their tongues, whatever control she had had until now evaporated. Katlyn was overcome with separate sensations as Brendan sucked a nipple into his mouth and suckled it in leisure, but Chase concentrated on her other one, his desire demanding. Katlyn welcomed how hard Chase’s tongue pulled on her, alternating between licking and sucking. She moaned at their differences as they worked on the tips of her breasts until they grew hard, while Brendan pumped away at her pussy with two fingers now. The first time she felt their fangs nick her nipples, her eyes widened in shock. It must have been the way her body stiffened because tongues then went to work, soothing her tender flesh.

  Her body no longer able to ignore the sensations of ecstasy, Katlyn screamed, her entire body shuddering, her tightness clenching around Brendan’s fingers as she reached the other side of bliss.

  She quickly recovered, gazing at the two men who had given her this pleasure she’d been seeking for so long. The fire between her thighs grew again, and her only thought was to complete her dream, fulfill her greatest fantasy—her only desire was to feel their cocks in her hands. Now!

  “Attention, code red!” Martha’s voice shouted on the intercom.

  “Shit,” Brendan said. “Get dressed Katlyn. Hurry!”

  Katlyn shakily dressed and the trio headed out the door. Once they were out in the hallway, thick smoke was everywhere. “Stay with us,” Brendan said as he made for the stairs. “Who are those men shooting at?” Katlyn said in panic, indicating two men at the foot of the stairs who fired shotguns indiscriminately at anyone who tried to move down them.

  “It’s the Shifter Patrol,” Chase shouted over the blood-curdling screams and shotgun blasts coming from the club below.

  Brendan’s mountain lion senses must have went into high gear as Katlyn noticed his eyes changing, hair popping up along his arms. He pushed Katlyn down the hall and toward the window on the end. “I can’t jump out there. I don’t have cat reflexes and I won’t land on my feet!”

  Katlin covered her head as she flew through the window with the help of Brendan’s push, sailing to the ground. She narrowly missed the iron fence below, landing in the dumpster instead. She about lost her cookies at the smell of rotting garbage. Where were Brendan and Chase? When she finally climbed out, she was alone, but now wasn’t the time to wonder if they had gotten out okay, as she coughed at the black smoke that was billowing from the Wilted Petal.

  She pushed her way through the opening in the fence and a loud male voice yelled, “Hey, you. Stop!” Katlin turned and bit her fist when the man leveled a shotgun straight at her. Her legs were frozen for a moment, but that only lasted until she saw two mountain lions lurking near the shrubs. Silent as a whisper, the lions jumped the man and they tumbled to the ground together. Shouts were heard in the distance as Katlyn ran from the scene.

  Chapter Two

  It took a few hours of winding through the backstreets of Newbury before Katlyn reached Peyton Street, where she was able to convince a couple to let her use their cell phone to make a call.

  The only reason Katlyn knew Tessa’s number was because she had known her phone number long before she had been allowed a cell phone when she was a teenager. That seemed so long ago, and now at twenty-five, Katlyn had not only left the confines of her home in the suburbs of Streetsboro, Ohio, that she shared with her parents, but had moved to Newbury, Wisconsin, for a teaching job at the local elementary school.

  “Why don’t you wait for your friend inside Star’s Coffee House? It’s not safe to be roaming out at this hour,” the woman said, and the man with her agreed.

  “Jenny’s right.”

  Katlyn took a seat at a booth with the couple and a television had the news on, showing the out-of-control fire at the Wilted Petal.

  “It’s about time that den of iniquity burned to the ground,” one man shouted at the screen. “It’s downright shameful, a place like that in Newbury. This used to be a nice town, before those beasts began roaming around here, lusting after our womenfolk.”

  “Beasts, you say?” the server asked, hands on hips. “Where do you hear such stories?”

  “Don’t ignore the simple facts. Clubs like that have been popping up all over the Untied States, but not anymore. No sir, the Shifter Patrol is gonna put a stop to it.”

  “From the sounds of it, they only go to private clubs to interact with humans. It’s not like they’re roaming the streets, Hal,” another server said.

  “Is that right? Well, what about how most of our pets have disappeared of late?”

  “They’ve all run off?”

  “Nope. Those beasts made a snack of them is what, and it won’t be long before they start looking for humans to fill their bellies.”

  “Sorry, but I just don’t have a problem with clubs that cater to shifter and human interactions. If you like that sort of thing, it’s fine with me. They don’t do it in animal form, you know,” the same server continued.

  “It’s sick is what it is, and thank God they’ve decided to put an end to it for good.”

  Katlyn hunched down in her seat. She felt just sick about what Hal was saying. It could have been her that died tonight, and for what? All because she had gone to a club that catered to ménages. She had no idea what it really was for, so that shifters and humans could hook up.

  “That’s enough, Hal,” a server said. “You’re scaring folks.”

  “They should be scared. God knows how many of our womenfolk have been impregnated by those horny bastards.”

  Words ran under the screen that said they were
searching for a woman seen leaving the scene and that two mountain lions had killed an officer. Katlyn stood up and ran for the door as they flashed her picture on the live video feed just as Tessa pulled up to the curve.

  Katlyn jumped into Tessa’s car and shouted, “Drive.”

  Tessa’s eyes widened, but she squealed her tires as she left the curb. “What’s going on, Katlyn? Here you call me in the middle of the night, and now it seems like Newbury is under an attack by wild animals.”

  “They burned the Wilted Petal down while I was there.”

  “Why were you at a place like that?”

  Katlyn shook her head. “I didn’t know that shifters frequented the place, I swear. I was just looking for an adventure. I had no clue that I’d find more than I bargained for.”

  “So did you actually have sex with an actual shifter?”

  “I met two sexy shifters, Brendan and Chase, but I didn’t know who or what they really were until we went upstairs.”

  “Oh, wow, Kat. How was it?”

  “It was mind-blowing what did happen, but we didn’t get the chance to go all the way before the intercom went off, announcing a code red.” Tears burned the back of Katlyn’s eyes. “It was just awful. There was all this black smoke and there were men at the foot of the stairs killing anyone who attempted to go down them.”

  “So what happened?”

  “Brendan pushed me out a window in the hallway.” When Tessa gasped, Katlyn continued. “Luckily I landed in a dumpster, but when I climbed out and tried to escape, a man with a gun confronted me and if it wasn’t for those shifters, I’d be dead. They jumped the man and I ran off before someone else saw me. There’s a video being played on the news of me fleeing the scene.”

  Tessa was silent for a moment as if trying to digest all the information. “So these mountain lions saved your life, then?”

  Katlyn couldn’t get the vision of the shifters being possibly murdered out of her mind. “Yes. I just can’t believe how that Shifter Patrol was killing everyone. They weren’t just murdering shifters. They were killing humans, too.”

  Tessa slowed down as she passed the house Katlyn was renting. There were cars displaying the name Shifter Patrol parked on her lawn. The door had been forced open, and her belongings thrown onto the lawn.

  Katlyn was sobbing uncontrollably now. “They found me. But how?”

  “They probably found your car and traced you there. I’m so sorry, Katlyn, for thinking you had lost your mind a minute ago. Your story seemed so out there, and honestly I’d never heard of the Shifter Patrol until now. Has the government been keeping this a secret the whole time?”

  “It would seem so, but why do you think they want to find me so badly?”

  “Because you’re the only surviving witness. If a shifter escapes, no problem, they’ll head for the hills, but a human will tell someone their story. It could be leaked to the press and when the public finds out this patrol has killed humans, the government will take action.”

  The government my ass. Katlyn knew that the government might very well be part of the patrol, funding it even. “I’m not about to sacrifice my life or freedom by trying to tell the American people how the patrol is on a witch hunt.”

  Tessa made the turn on Main Street and they exited the vehicle at an apartment building. “Where are we?” Katlyn asked.

  “My friend’s place. William won’t mind the intrusion. There’s only one thing you can do now, and that’s get out of town. We’ll use his computer. Is your cell phone on you?”

  “No, it must have dropped out of my pocket back at the Wilted Petal.”

  “Good, that way they can’t trace your whereabouts. The patrol might have figured out by now that we have a connection.”

  “I hope you won’t have to leave town, too, Tessa.”

  “If we’re to be on the run, we need to stick together.”

  They walked up to Apartment 12 and Tessa used her key to open the door. A startled man, lying on the couch, woke up and asked, “What’s up Tessa?”

  “We need to use your computer. Go back to sleep.”

  “Sleep? With all the emergency siren’s blaring. What’s happening out there?”

  “Hopefully not the apocalypse,” was Tessa’s response.

  “Look for the traveling teachers association,” Tessa recommended. “They have job postings all over the country.”

  Chapter Three

  Two weeks later, Tessa and Katlyn were being driven to an address in Shadow Creek, Wyoming, by a handsome cowboy.

  Katlyn had applied for and was offered a teaching job. The ad had simply said, “Teacher wanted. Must be female, discreet, and wholesome.” She did a phone interview only and the woman, Paige, sounded friendly enough. It eased Katlyn’s mind, but Tessa insisted that she accompany her. “You’ll be living on a ranch so free room and board will be supplied,” Paige had told her. “Meals will also be provided. When can you be here?”

  Paige sounded happy that Katlyn had accepted the job offer, but when she told her she had no transportation, she was told it wasn’t a problem and that she’d have someone pick them up.

  Those two weeks in a motel room outside of Newbury had been the worst of Katlyn’s life. They had only meager funds between them and Tessa had to fork over what she had available to pay for the room. It wasn’t safe for Katlyn to risk going back home, or traveling to the bank. She had only the clothes on her back and they had eaten ramen noodles that Tessa’s friend, William, had given them to take. Only noodles to eat for two whole weeks, other than the coffee and donuts the motel offered, was more than either of them could take.

  Now Katlyn swam inside her clothing. She’d always been more on the bigger side and while she’d always thought about shedding some pounds, she really didn’t want to do it this way. Tessa looked equally underfed, and Katlyn felt bad about it, but it wasn’t possible for Tessa to go home now, either. The patrol had also gone to her place and torn it up, leaving a car parked outside, presumably waiting for her to return. Would everyone Katlyn knew be subjected to searches? What of her parents? Would they be safe back in Ohio? She hadn’t been able to phone them. It just wasn’t safe to put anyone else in danger. Yes, disappearing was the smartest move.

  The truck came to a stop at a diner when they crossed the Iowa border. “Hope you ladies are hungry. I’m starving.”

  Katlyn and Tessa nodded and got out. When they walked through the door, all eyes were on them for a moment and then the patrons went back to digging into their meals.

  A waitress, about age sixty, came over with a pot of coffee, pouring it into our cups without asking. “What can I bring you folks?”

  “The largest breakfast you have for me,” the cowboy said. “Eggs over easy.”

  “We’ll take what he’s having, but make our eggs over hard,” Katlyn said. Once the waitress left, Katlyn asked, “Cowboy, do you have a name?”

  “Angus. My mama said I was born big as a baby calf so the name has fit just nicely.”

  Katlyn thought it did, too, since Angus was both tall and broad, but not in an unfit or overweight way. He looked to be solid muscle, with thick, muscled arms.

  “It’s none of my business, but when was the last time you ladies had a meal?”

  “A real one?” Katlyn asked. “A couple of weeks. I’d rather not go into the why’s or how come’s, if you don’t mind.”

  “Wasn’t meaning to pry into your business none. I can tell life hasn’t been good for either of you, but that will change when we get to the ranch. There are plenty of wide-open spaces and big meals. Paige will make sure you’re filled out in short order.”

  “What kinds of animals does the ranch have?” Tessa asked.

  “We have cattle, horses, and plenty of wildlife, but they don’t bother you none. We have one of the largest ranches in the area. It’s not like back east with all the curfews and such. We’ll be going through a roadblock up ahead, though, but I know another way around it, so don’t worry.”


  “Why is there a curfew back east?”

  “It’s not important now. You’ll be safe at the ranch.”

  The conversation was dropped when the food arrived, and both Katlyn and Tessa ate like their lives depended on it.

  “Hey, hey, slow down there or you girls are gonna be having one heck of a belly ache come later.”

  Katlyn nodded, slowing down her pace. When the plates were cleared, there was more food on them than either Katlyn or Tessa could eat. Katlyn’s belly had gotten full too fast since they hadn’t eaten well the last few weeks.

  Angus paid for the meal and they soon were back on the road as the sun went down in the west. Katlyn yawned and nodded off, listening to Tessa asking Angus everything from how much he could bench press to how long he’d worked for the ranch. The last thing Katlyn remembered was something about a cow, but that’s when it went all black.

  * * *

  The car screeched to a stop and Katlyn woke up, asking, “Are we there yet?”

  Angus shushed her, jumping out and approaching a group of men that held a spotlight trained on them.

  “Whoa,” Tessa said. “Is that a bear?”

  Katlyn gripped the dash, catching sight of a grizzly bear as it dashed off into the woods. She couldn’t help, but wonder if they were shifters, which made her wonder about Angus. It was obvious this was a roadblock of sorts, but not one manned by the Shifter Patrol. They weren’t even on the main road.

  Katlyn felt nervous when the men kept pointing to the truck and voices became loud, but not loud enough for her to hear what they were saying.

  * * *

  “How do we know for certain they’re not part of the patrol?” a gruff man asked.

  “All I know is that Paige told me to bring them to the ranch. We’re in need of a teacher for the schoolhouse, as you’re well aware,” Angus said.